Engelmann, Agassiz and Braun were student friends in Heidelberg. Schimper, with his close friend Agassiz and Braun, then studied further in Munich, spending regular evenings with their teachers Martius and Oken in congenial discussion; Schimper was also Schelling’s favourite student. The story of Schimper’s and Agassiz’s competing claims to primacy in the theory of glaciation is complex, but Schimper had already lectured on the subject before going to stay with Charpentier in the Alps, finding Agassiz already there, and sharing his ideas with him. Agassiz published, but Braun reasserted Schimper’s right to the real credit.